European Union Enlargement: The Challenges of Geopolitics and Integration Capacity

Over the past decade, 13 countries have joined the European Union (EU) as the successful outcome of 3 enlargement waves (2004, 2007 and 2013). In less than 10 years, the number of member states almost doubled, with a Union now counting 28 countries from every corner of Europe. And it is not over. As of today, 5 countries are negotiating or waiting to start negotiations towards membership, including Turkey, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In addition to this list, two more Balkan countries have been recognized as potential candidates: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. And with the Ukrainian crisis on EU’s Eastern borders, the possibility to open membership prospects to more former soviet republics is currently being discussed at the European level. At the same time, EU enlargement faces more difficult conditions in the EU, its candidate countries, and the international environment than in previous enlargement rounds. European integration, including enlargement, has become more politicized and unpopular in the EU, as the continent is still recovering from the financial and Eurozone crisis. Socioeconomic conditions and state capacity in the candidate countries are comparatively weak. And Russia has stepped up its opposition against further expansion of the EU at its borders. It is thus questionable whether enlargement still qualifies as the European Union's most successful foreign policy. This section aims to bring together contributions about all aspects of EU’s enlargement from a variety of theoretical and methodological standpoints. Its general objective is to assess the effects of enlargement on stability, democracy and prosperity both for the candidate states and EU’s institutions. Its more specific goal is to shed light on the EU’s integration capacities within an “ever larger Union” and in the face of a changed geopolitical and socio-economic context. This section is comprised of 5 panels: